The sanctification of Craig Rhosyfelin

There is a lot of discussion just now about false news and "alternative facts" .......  and here we go again.

I have been quite involved recently in the local promotion of the "Year of Legends" in Wales.   With the support of the Welsh Government, Visit Wales and the local authorities,  a massive amount of marketing money has been thrown at this -- and some very fine material has appeared, with the object of attracting more visitors to Wales.  Just type in "Wales Year of Legends" into Google, and see what appears........

http://www.visitwales.com/legends

https://businesswales.gov.wales/zones/tourism/YoL2017

https://www.celticos.com/year-legends-wales 

http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/explore-pembrokeshire/pembrokeshire-myths-legends/

Obviously, when it comes to fairy tales, myths and legends, one does not want to get too heavily involved in investigating what is truth and what may be fiction -- but we do start to get into trouble when myth is presented as fact by people who should know better.

Here is the latest example, in a very lavish web site which has just gone live, under the auspices of Literature Wales -- with considerable public funding from Visit Wales.  As we have stated on this blog many times before, Craig Rhosyfelin is now hot property, busily promoted by the National Park and Pembrokeshire CC on the basis that "our heritage is better than the heritage of other parts of Wales".  I have pointed out to the powers that be, on many occasions, that they need to be very careful about the presentation of myths and wild hypotheses as "facts" -- but they are not inclined to listen to me.  Who cares about science and evidence, when all that matters is a good story?  More to the point, who cares about the truth, when we need to pull more tourists into the county to help the local economy?  So marketing is all that matters.  Anyway, as I was saying, here is the latest example:

Craig Rhos-y-felin, Crosswell

    • Region : South West Wales
    • Grid Ref : SN 11650 36140
    • Google Map
    • Add to your list
Some of the bluestones of Stonehenge were quarried here. First used for a local monument in about 3400 BC, they were moved to Salisbury Plain 500 years later where they stood in various settings before the giant inverted ‘U-shaped’ stones joined them in 2500 BC. This makes Stonehenge a truly Welsh site - something supported by the Boscombe Bowmen: seven individuals re-buried in a mass grave near Stonehenge around 2300 BC. All were  seemingly born and raised in south-west Wales, travelling to Wessex during their lifetime. This connection and journeys from the west are recalled in folk legend - Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100-1155) retells the ancient belief that Merlin brought Stonehenge from Ireland. The rock face retains the natural pillar formations which the stone-cutters exploited. You can enjoy a picnic where they camped 5400 years ago.SOURCE:
http://www.landoflegends.wales/theme/sacred-and-spiritual

Now this purports to be an accurate statement of what Craig Rhosyfelin is all about.  The trouble is that almost every sentence is full of "alternative facts." In other words, nonsense.  There is no evidence that any of the Stonehenge bluestones were quarried at Rhosyfelin -- all we know is that some of the rock fragments at Stonehenge came from the Rhosyfelin area.  We do not know that any of the stones were used in a local monument before being shifted to Salisbury Plain.  Giant inverted U-shaped stones?!!    The seven Boscombe Bowmen came from SW Wales?  I know of no evidence in support of that contention.  Geoffrey of Monmouth?  Here we go again.......  Natural pillar formations which the stone cutters exploited?  Zero evidence of that happening.  Lots of people have camped there over the millennia -- that's about the only bit of the paragraph that seems more or less reliable.

For years we have had the HH Thomas / Atkinson myth promoted for commercial reasons in spite of the fact that there is no evidence in support of it;  and now the MPP version has entered the mythology lexicon.   Should one laugh, or weep?

National Park "challenge" on the Stonehenge story

Some months ago the National Park asked Geooff Wainwright and myself to provide short summaries of our ideas relating to the origins and transport of the bluestones.  Sadly, Geoff died before this appeared in print.   But here is a copy of our mini-debate, on page 39 of the free "Coast to Coast" newspaper which is distributed to holidaymakers in Pembrokeshire.

If you have difficulty in reading the text, click to enlarge.

Banc Llwydlos and Occam's Razor

Tycanol Wood -- gnarled trees, mossy stones and a fortified Iron Age site nearby.  One of many settlement sites to the north of Mynydd Preseli

Prof MPP is booked in to do another talk for the National Park at Castell Henllys on 20th September -- it's now become an annual event!  Like the arrival of the first cuckoo of spring, the archaeologists turn up in N Pembs every year, in late summer, looking for the holy grail.  So it looks pretty certain that they will be hoofing about this year too, in the first three weeks of September.  The betting is that they will be looking, once again, for "proto-Stonehenge", and that the hunt will be concentrated to the north of the Preseli upland ridge.  Banc Llwydlos might well be on the cards.........

On Wed 20th Sept there will be daytime event (10 am - 3 pm) entitled "Prehistoric Preseli Tour / Bluestone event" and in the evening Prof MPP will talk (again) on the Welsh origins of Stonehenge.

The working hypothesis (should that be "ruling hypothesis"?) is that there was a bluestone circle somewhere in the area that was systematically dismantled and carted off to Stonehenge as some sort of demonstration of political unification.  The bluestones, highly valued and maybe thought to embody the spirits of the ancestors, were not stolen or collected by the tribes of Wessex, but were taken as a goodwill gesture by the rather sophisticated tribes of North Pembrokeshire.  There was powerful political and spiritual symbolism in the stones themselves, and the act of giving them up and transporting them all the way to Stonehenge was designed to impress the recipients and to achieve some sort of political unification.

This theory is elaborated over and again, with minor tweaks  -- and we will hear the latest version on 20th September, along with a report on the latest incredibly exciting discoveries..........

Readers of this blog will not be surprised to hear that I am completely unimpressed by all of this and that I consider it to be entirely unsupported by evidence of any kind.   Having recently taken a good look around the terrain between Carn Goedog and Tafarn y Bwlch (including Brynberian Moor and Banc Llwydlos) I'm impressed by what appears to be a long history of settlement in the area and with the abundant traces of settlement from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages -- but there is NOTHING to suggest any special reverence for spotted dolerite or foliated rhyolite, and NOTHING to link the area archaeologically with Stonehenge.

 To repeat some points made a few months ago:

1.  There is no hard evidence in the area of  any particular stone type being valued, or being accorded veneration, over and above any other stone type in prehistoric Pembrokeshire.  Stones of all lithologies, shapes and sizes were used wherever it was handy to use them. (That, by the way, is exactly the case at Stonehenge as well.)  If more spotted dolerite pillars and slabs appear to have been used in north Pembrokeshire, it is because there were simply more of them lying around as glacial erratics.

2.  There is no hard evidence, as far as I know, of any large stone in a Pembrokeshire monolithic setting being transported more than a few metres from its place of origin to its place of use.

3.  Because of the abundance of glacial erratics littered across the landscape, there was no need for any quarrying of stone from "bluestone quarries."  So there are no bluestone quarries, and the obsession with searching for them and "finding" them them is nothing more than a rather charming fantasy.

4.   Although I am a geographer who quite enjoys looking for patterns and arrangements in the landscape, I can see no "siting preferences" with respect to monolithic /  megalithic settings based on proximity to springs, views of the mountains or the sea, alignments, transition zones between boggy and and rocky land, or anything else.  The only thing I would concede is that some fortified sites and burial sites are located on hill summits.

5. A thorough examination of the field reports of the Dyfed Archaeology staff suggests  that the cultural associations in Mesolithic, Neolithic and early Bronze Age times were predominantly with other parts of the "Atlantic Fringe" and NOT with Salisbury Plain and the Stonehenge area.  There does not seem to be any cultural context for a situation in which people would suddenly want to start gathering up 80 bluestones and carting them off to Stonehenge.

6.  The prehistoric inhabitants of north Pembrokeshire were a pretty pragmatic bunch.  They clearly had their reasons for making "statements" in stone, but they were also driven by utilitarian principles, and always used whichever handy stones were fit for purpose.  They may have been simple folk, but they were smart enough to know about cost / benefit analysis.

If we look at the prehistoric traces that litter the landscape to the north of the Preseli ridge, the most parsimonious explanation of them is that there were local tribes here which shared many building techniques and maybe cultural / religious beliefs with other tribes in western Britain and Ireland but which had no interest in gigantic civil engineering projects or grand political gestures.

Strange that the archaeologists are so reluctant to take on board these relatively simple points and that they are apparently still hell-bent on perpetrating their modern myth, in spite of failing to come up with any evidence of quarrying or long-distance stone transport.

Holocene sea-level rise around the British Isles

Somebody put this map on Facebook -- a nice illustration of the post-glacial eustatic rise in sea level around the shores of the British Isles.

Banc Llwydlos cromlech (3)

The Dyfed Archaeology fieldworkers have expressed the view that this small feature at Banc Llwydlos (PRN 100702) is simply a "small sub-circular enclosure'' or "stone built structure" -- they do not define it as a burial site. This is intriguing, since the feature has quite close parallels elsewhere....

See this, on Scillonian entrance graves:

Scillonian entrance grave

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The entrance graves of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and south east Ireland are megalithic chamber tombs of the Neolithic and early Bronze Age in the British Isles. Comparable sites are also known in Brittany and the Channel Islands. They are generally known as the Scillonian group as the greatest concentration of the tombs is found on the Isles of Scilly.

Examples include Bant's Carn and the Innisidgen and Porth Hellick Down tombs, all on St Mary's.

They consist of a narrow entrance which leads into a rectangular burial chamber covered by a small round stone cairn usually revetted with a kerb. In some examples a sill stone blocks the entrance. The walls of the chamber themselves are of either orthostat slabs or stone courses, covered with several large capstones. Both the cairn and the chamber often exploit natural stone outcrops or boulders in their construction.

Entrance orientations in Scillonian graves follow no discernible pattern and they appear to have been used for deposition of multiple cremation and inhumation burials with up to 60 individuals found at Knackyboy Cairn on the island of St Martin's. Occupation debris has also been found in the graves which implies that they were actively used sites possibly for wider ritual purposes and/or as territorial markers.

The small size and simplicity of these monuments compared with the more complex tombs being built elsewhere in Britain imply that the areas where they are found preserved older methods of burial. The earliest known finds from Scillonian entrance graves include fragments of middle Neolithic Carn Brea type ware and have led some archaeologists such as Paul Ashbee to argue that they are in fact of early Neolithic or even Mesolithic date. Much of the Bronze Age material excavated from entrance graves is considered to be related to later re-use.

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The island of St. Martins is home to one of the most populated tombs in British prehistory, containing the remains of up to sixty people. During the Early Bronze Age people were buried in entrance graves: roughly circular structures made of stones and soil that overlay a rectangular-shaped chamber and were surrounded by a kerb of boulders. It was possible to enter the chamber from outside and people were placed in these tombs over a period of years. Tombs of this type are confined to the Isles of Scilly and a small area of the mainland in West Penwith, Cornwall, Tramore, Ireland and small numbers of similar monuments are known in the Channel Islands and Brittany.

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Here are the traces of two of these entrance graves, the first on Gugh Island and the other on Tresco:

Here is another example of a propped slab or earthfast cromlech -- this is from St David's Head.

In the case of Banc Llwydlos, the prop is not so spectacular, and is indeed rather crude, but there is no doubt that the "capstone" is propped up, and Murphy and Wilson suggest that it is supported at both ends.  That is not the sort of thing you find in hut circles or animal enclosures  -- so the general drift has to be in the direction of a burial site.  Simple tombs of this type are sometimes referred to as "sub-megalithic", and evidence suggests that they may be late Neolithic or early Bronze Age features.  This means they are intermediate between the very spectacular and technically advanced "portal dolmens"and the much simpler cist graves that became popular in the Bronze Age.  At the same time long barrows were giving way to smaller round barrows with smaller chambers or stone-lined "boxes" inside them.

Finally, there are abundant unimposing ruined "chamber tombs" all over west Wales.  In Pembrokeshire, the best known are at Carn Besi, Parc-y-llyn (Ambleston), Marros, Manorbier,  Angle (Devils' Quoit), Eithbed, St Elvis, Carnllidi, Garn Wnda, and Garn Wen, Goodwick (three crude chambered tombs in a "cemetery").

 Two of the simple chambered tombs at Garn Wen.  Each of the three (or four) tombs here is assumed to have been covered by a low mound of earth and stones.

In some of these, the burials appear to have taken place in a very small chamber beneath the capstone.  In others, the chamber extended behind the capstone, possibly roofed over with other stone slabs which have subsequently broken or collapsed or been taken away for other uses.  In some illustrations, there are suggestions that wooden beams or tree trunks were used, which have by now of course rotted away completely -- this might explain why, in some situations (such as Banc Llwydlos), there is a hollow bounded by raised embankments.

I'm struck with the similarity with the small "entrance grave" tombs of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly -- but I suppose that until this site is excavated,  my guess is no better than anybody else's.

Banc Llwydlos cromlech (2)

 Illustrations from the Dyfed Archaeology Report (on the plan N is at the top).  The big "balanced" slab is the one to the SE, surrounded by a cluster of smaller stones.

From the Dyfed Archaeology record -- the site (which I initially thought to be unrecorded) is in fact mentioned by Murphy and Wilson 2012, and is given the reference number PRN 100702.

Here is the description:

500 metres (that's a mistake -- it should be 50m) to the east of PRN 100700 lies a small sub-circular enclosure measuring approximately 7.0m in diameter (PRN 100702). It is of unusual construction, being made of very large stone blocks, some of which are set within an earthen bank. Incorporated within the eastern side of the circle is a large stone slab lying in a horizontal position, that has been levelled by balancing it on several smaller stones placed underneath it (see photo below). The stone slab is 2.6m long and 2.0m wide at its widest point. This site had never been recorded before, not even during the field survey in 1984 undertaken by Pete Drewett that recorded sites in close vicinity to it such as PRN 100700.

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The area of Banc Llwydlos has been little studied in the past but this fieldwork in 2011 and the field visits undertaken in 2009/10, also as part of the scheduling enhancement programme, have shown the high quality and rarity of prehistoric sites in this area. 500m to the east of the two sites described above lies an already scheduled hut circle group (PRN 1565, SAM PE370) and 300m to the southeast lies another hut circle and enclosure group recorded in 2009 (PRN 14373) that is of equal importance.

More Banc Llwydlos records

Here are some more records from the excellent Dyfed Archaeology Report No 2012/6 by Murphy and Wilson.  I'm very happy to help to publicise this work, since it seems to me to be brief, accurate and mercifully free of unnecessary speculation.

Not all of the features are shown on the map.  But there does seem to be an extraordinary concentration of features here -- it's a very good site for settlement and all sorts of other activities, beneath the steep slope of Banc Llwydlos, dry and sunny, and sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds.  There appears to be a very long settlement history, running from neolithic into Bronze Age and even into the medieval period.

DYFED ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST
REPORT NO. 2012/6 PROJECT RECORD NO. 100689
January 2012
SCHEDULING ENHANCEMENT PROJECT 2011: PREHISTORIC SITES FIELDWORK
– PEMBROKESHIRE ADDITIONAL SITES

Fran Murphy & Hubert Wilson

www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/projects/schedulepembroke2011.pdf

PRN 1565 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE UNENCLOSED SETTLEMENT PERIOD Bronze Age? NGR SN09303311 CONDITION Damaged STATUS SAM-PE370 FORM Earthwork

SUMMARY An oval enclosure within which are the remains of several circular huts. To the SW of the enclosure are the remains of a rectangular hut.

LONG DESCRIPTION An oval enclosure c.20m in diameter within which are the remains of several circular huts. To the SW of the enclosure are the remains of a rectangular hut. This unenclosed settlement is located near a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 240m above sea level. The features are visible as low stony banks. Probably prehistoric in origin but difficult to date, although its position close to a stream may indicate a later date - see nearby unenclosed settlement features PRN 14373 & 1579. FM 2011

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PRN 1579 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE ENCLOSURE GROUP PERIOD Medieval/Post Medieval? NGR SN09073339 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Earthwork

SUMMARY Circular enclosure and associated rectangular hut.

LONG DESCRIPTION Visited in April 2011. As previously described. The enclosure is situated on the west bank of a stream on the NE facing slopes of Banc Llwydlos at 230m above sea level. See OS card for detailed description. FM May 2011
Bracken has infested the area. There are hints of stone wall bases, but it was difficult to assess the true form and extent of the feature. Its streamside location, on a dry terrace, suggests that a long hut or fold may well be placed here. There was also noted, the line of a sub-circular boundary bank or wall, defined simply by a line of small boulders, enclosing an area c.15m in diameter or 15m by 15m. Its precise form is uncertain. . RPS October 2002
Possibly a denuded long hut site. RPS August 2001.

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PRN 100699 TYPE HUT CIRCLE? NGR SN08703299 CONDITION Unknown
Scheduling Enhancement Project 2011: Prehistoric Fieldwork– Pembrokeshire Additional Sites
NAME BANC LLWYDLOS PERIOD Unknown

STATUS FORM Unknown SUMMARY A feature identified as a 'circular stone hut’ by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.

LONG DESCRIPTION A feature identified as a ‘circular stone hut' (site no 105) by P Drewett during field survey in 1984. There is no drawing of the feature in the report. This site was not located during a site visit in 2011. FM & HW April 2011

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PRN 100700NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE CHAMBERED TOMB PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN0875133233 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Earthwork

SUMMARY A sub-rectangular shaped arrangement of stones set on edge and protruding through a similarly shaped low earthen mound. Possible the remains of a former prehistoric 'passage grave' or 'chambered tomb', it is situated to the east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos.

LONG DESCRIPTION A sub-rectangular shaped arrangement of stones protruding through a similarly shaped low earthen mound. It is situated to the east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level. The stone setting is aligned roughly N-S and is widest at its southern end where the stones appear to form a 'chamber' up to which a narrow linear 'passage' runs from the north, where there would appear to be an entrance. The feature is 14.2m long and measures 3.6m at its widest southern end and 2.4m at its northern end. It is very similar in construction to Beddyrafanc chambered tomb that lies just over 2.5km to the NE (PRN 1032). The site was first recorded by P Drewett in 1984 as a ‘multiple stone setting – passage grave’ (site no 106). FM & HW April 2011

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PRN 100701 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE STANDING STONE PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN087763323 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Stone slab

SUMMARY A possible standing stone recorded by P Drewett in 1984.

LONG DESCRIPTION A possible standing stone recorded by P Drewett in 1984. It is situated to the north of the 'passage grave' PRN 100700, and lies east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level.

A site visit to the area was undertaken in April 2011. It was difficult to pinpoint which stone, in an area of many scattered stones and boulders, could qualify as this standing stone. However, the most likely would appear to be a stone located at SN08773323, to the north of the 'passage grave' PRN 100700. The stone appears to be placed at the eastern end of a vague earthen linear bank that fades into the gorse to the west. The stone is approximately 0.5m high. This site was first recorded by P Drewett in 1984 as a ‘standing stone’ (site no 107). FM & HW April 2011

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PRN 100702 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE ENCLOSURE PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN08813321 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Stone built structure

SUMMARY A small sub-circular enclosure situated east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level, defined by a number of very large stone blocks, some of which are set within an earthen bank.

LONG DESCRIPTION A small sub-circular enclosure situated east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level. The site lies c.500m east of the possible 'passage grave' PRN 100700
The enclosure measuring approximately 7.5m N-S and 6.5m E-W. It is of unusual construction, being made of very large stone blocks, some of which are set within an earthen bank. Incorporated within the eastern side of the circle is a large stone slab lying in a horizontal position, that has been levelled by balancing it on several smaller stones below it. The stone slab is 2.6m long and 2.0m wide at its widest point. There is a possibility of an entrance on the western side. This site had not been recorded before this visit and was not included in P Drewetts 1984 report on his Mynydd Preseli fieldwork. April 2011

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PRN 100703 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE STANDING STONE PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN08723322 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Stone slab
FM & HW

SUMMARY A possible 'megalith' recorded by P Drewett in 1984. It is situated to the south of the possible 'passage grave' PRN 100700.

LONG DESCRIPTION A possible 'megalith' (site no 124) recorded by P Drewett in 1984. It is situated to the south of the possible 'passage grave' PRN 100700, and lies east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level.
A site visit to the area was undertaken in April 2011. It was difficult to pinpoint which stone, in an area of many scattered stones and boulders, could qualify as this 'megalith'. However, the most likely would appear to be a large stone boulder located at SN08723322, to the south of the 'passage grave' PRN 100700. The stone boulder is approximately 0.7m wide and 0.7m high, and has a depth N-S of 0.55m. FM & HW April 2011

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PRN 100704 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE PERIOD Prehistoric? NGR SN08733323 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Earthwork

SUMMARY A possible small circular enclosure visible as a low earthwork.

LONG DESCRIPTION A possible small enclosure visible as a low circular earthen bank with some large stones on the north side of the curve. It is approximately 6.0m in diameter. It is situated east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level.
FM & HW April 2011

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PRN 100705 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE SHEEP FOLD PERIOD Medieval NGR SN09513302 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Stone structure

SUMMARY A possible sheepfold situated on a northwest facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 250m above sea level, lying to the east of a stream.

LONG DESCRIPTION A possible sheepfold situated on a northwest facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 250m above sea level, lying to the east of a stream. It is sub-circular in shape and of dry stone construction whose walls survive to between 4/5 courses high. The enclosure has an approximate diameter of 8.9m. There is an entrance on the west (facing the stream) measuring 1.2m wide. It is possibly a later re-use of an earlier structure. It was recorded by P Drewett in 1984 during field survey and listed as ‘hut cluster (circular stone huts)’ (site no 109).
Depicted as 'sheepfold' on OS County series Pembroke. XI.9 1889 & as 'old sheepfold' on 2nd edition (1907).

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PRN 100708 TYPE HUT CIRCLE NGR SN10293297 CONDITION Unknown
NAME BANC LLWYDLOS PERIOD Prehistoric?

STATUS FORM Unknown SUMMARY A 'circular stone hut' identified by P Drewett during field survey in
1984.

LONG DESCRIPTION A 'circular stone hut' (site no 117) identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.No more information is listed in Drewett’s 1984 report. Not located during fieldwork in 2011. The grid reference has been estimated from the sketch map contained within the report. FM & HW April 2011